Board gets $33 million for schools

Ontario’s education ministry has approved a total $33.1 million for the local public school board to build one new Belleville elementary school and two major additions, one in Belleville, the other in Madoc.

Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board staff announced the details Tuesday in a press release.

“We are just absolutely thrilled that the ministry has continued to see our commitment to renewing infrastructure,” education director Mandy Savery-Whiteway said in a telephone interview.

“We understand that the ministry receives hundreds and hundreds of requests.

“They only approved 79 projects and we got three of them.”

She said the board requested three new schools, but its business cases were flexible and allowed for renovations instead.

The ministry awarded $16.8 million for an addition to Moira Secondary School, which in September will become Meyers Creek Secondary when students from Quinte Secondary move there.

A further $10.5 million will fund a new kindergarten-to-Grade-8 school on the grounds of Queen Elizabeth School when it merges with Queen Victoria School.

The remaining $5.8 million will be used to add to Centre Hastings Secondary to make space for Madoc Public students. The new school will be for kindergarten through Grade 12.